Societal Impacts

• The majority of the population plays video games, with one survey showing that 80% of the general population plays video games somewhat regularly.
• Males tended to play video games more frequently, with 55% surveyed playing several times a week.
•  $115.8 billion was spent on gaming in 2018.

E-Sports

• Esports have only begun to be considered a professional sport in the past few years, and there is still significant debate on whether it is a true sport.
• However, esports were recently included in the Olympics and will be an official medal earning event by 2024.
• One reason esports are often considered a true sport is that in order to train, one must work on improving motor and cognitive abilities and skills.
• In addition to growth in the participation in esports, viewership of esports events is increasing. In 2018, 165 million people considered themselves esports enthusiasts, and 215 million considered themselves occasional viewers.

Key Innovations

• One recent innovation in the video game space is the shift from games as goods to providing gaming as a service, via a subscription based model.
• The use of wearables and VR headsets for immersion of users into the video game experience is also increasing rapidly.
• Related to immersion, some platforms are developing tools to generate tactile feedback signals via the game input device.
•  AI is also being used to predict how players will respond to and navigate through games, and to adapt games accordingly.